


New Chapters

by dxmichelle



Series: Wayward Wizardry [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Awkward proposals, Engagement, Established Nerdshipping, F/M, Straight up SHENANIGANS, Wedding Planning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2019-11-26 15:47:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18182579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dxmichelle/pseuds/dxmichelle
Summary: [Future fic, postOf Lost Swords and Shadow Magic]Seto Kaiba prided himself on being prepared. He had five different contingency plans in his own dueling deck. ...So why didn't he come up with one for this? And when did planning his wedding become so...socomplicated?AKA - Seto and Hermione's journey from engagement to the alter doesn't quite go as expected. But that doesn't make it any less memorable.





	1. Hogwarts: A History I

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place after OLSSM would have ended. Reading OLSSM is not required, but there will be events that reference back. 
> 
> For the sake of this timeline, the Wizarding War has ended. The Millennium Items laid to rest. Seto and Hermione are about 20 years old. Mokuba is 15.

On any normal day, Mokuba Kaiba would have slept past two of his morning alarms, snoozed the third, and _maybe_ gotten up before the fourth “this is your last chance to get up, get ready and be on time!” went off. This was in complete contrast to his older brother, who would be rubbing sleep from his eyes and getting out of bed minutes after his phone would buzz _once,_ and well before Mokuba could even fathom getting up.

Today? He was up and dressed after only the second chirp of his alarm clock, but was halfway to the kitchen before he realized that the mansion was unusually quiet.

Mokuba quickly detoured down the hall and poked his head into Seto’s home office. Empty.

Living room? Vacant.

Frowning, Mokuba turned back, wandered back towards the kitchen and was immediately hit with the familiar smell of morning coffee. Ah – signs of life! It was far later than usual for Seto to be just getting his day started, but he had returned from the United States rather ill and had gone right to bed. If he was going to be a bit more sluggish while his body tried to expel whatever virus he picked up in New York, Mokuba wasn’t going to get in his way.

Both figuratively and physically. He did _not_ want whatever his brother brought home.

However, it wasn’t Seto in the kitchen, but Roland, sitting on one of the high barstools along the island counter, scrolling through something on his laptop with a steaming mug next to him, looking eerily reminiscent of Seto when he would check up on company matters before the both of them went off to school. …When Seto still _went_ to high school at least. That stint certainly didn’t last long.

Mokuba wasn’t sure if this was something Roland always did and he never caught notice to it, but it was sometimes a bit creepy how the man managed to mirror some of Seto’s habits while he was off in Britain for the majority of those two years.

“Morning,” said Mokuba. He opened the fridge and dug around for the milk. “Seto still in bed?”

“Judging by the state he returned in? He _should_ be.”

Mokuba frowned and scrounged around an upper cabinet for the cereal. “Do you think he still has a fever?”

“I haven’t been upstairs this morning.”

Mokuba nodded his head absently. “I’ll have to check. Hermione’s flight from London comes in tomorrow, right?”

Roland glanced at his watch. “A little under three hours.”

Mokuba’s eyes widened and he dropped his spoon into his bowl, splashing milk all over the counter. “I thought it was tomorrow!”

Roland shook his head. “Your days are off. Miss Granger was due in today and Mr. Kaiba originally late tonight into tomorrow.”

Mokuba thought back to his text messages from the last couple of days. “Hm…you know, I think you’re right. Seto’s early trip home has me all jumbled up.”

His face then fell into a frown. “If we knew that New York was going to infect Seto with the freakin’ _plague_ , we could have told her to stay in London.”

Roland downed the rest of his coffee and closed the laptop. “Regardless, I’m sure she will enjoy the break after that legislation victory.”

Mokuba blinked owlishly. “Huh?”

Roland nodded at the other end of the counter, towards yesterday’s _Daily Prophet_. “Her world is part of your life now. You should try and keep up with what’s going on over there.” He got up and set the mug into the sink. “Are you coming with me to the airport, or are you staying?”

“I’ll go, I just want to check on Seto beforehand,” said Mokuba, and then a random thought popped into his head. He smiled.  “…Do you think we can make a side stop on the way?”

* * *

“This feels awkward,” said Mokuba, as he stood off to the side of one of the airport’s exit gates as a throng of passengers made their way through the terminal and off to the baggage claim.

Roland raised an eyebrow.

“It should be _Seto_ here, not me,” Mokuba continued. “Or, at least not _just_ me. Anyone watching us is gonna make some dumb post on the Internet as soon as she gets off the plane, I know it.”

Roland shook his head, chuckling quietly. “You are taking this far out of context.”

“Am I?” Despite the smile on his face, he rolled his eyes. “I mean _come on_ , I’m even holding flowers.”

Roland glanced down at the small colorful bouquet in Mokuba’s hand before looking forward again. “Those were your idea.”

“They hardly make up for Seto not here to greet her off the plane.”

“I’m sure she’ll understand,” said Roland, taking a long glance around them. There weren’t a lot of people coming out of the gate now, but he did spot her amongst the latest group leaving the plane.

Hermione looked around the busy terminal before catching the familiar mop of untamed black hair off near the wall of the exit gate and rushed over to greet them.

“Miss Granger.”

“Hello!”

“Hi!” Mokuba pulled her into a hug before taking a step back. “How was your flight?”

“Very smooth. I got a lot of reading done. There was a huge rainstorm in London, and I thought the flight was going to be delayed, but we made off just fine.” Her eyes fell on the flowers. “A-are those for me?”

Mokuba nodded and held them out. “For you!”

She beamed and hugged him again. “Oh, you didn’t have to! Thank you!”

Mokuba ran a hand through his hair and laughed awkwardly. “Well…they’re sort of apology flowers.”

Hermione’s face fell a little. “…What do you mean? You haven’t done anything…”

Mokuba shook his head. “No…not like that. I got them cuz Seto couldn’t be here to meet you.”

“Oh,” Hermione sighed, relieved. “You didn’t have to do all that. Did his flight get delayed too? I was worried we both wouldn’t get back to Japan at the same time.” She glanced around wildly, looking for the closest flight arrival board, but there were none scheduled to arrive from New York until the early hours of the following morning.

“Mr. Kaiba returned from New York yesterday,” said Roland.

Mokuba pulled a rather pouty face. “You know how he hates magic travel, right?”

Hermione nodded. Seto _always_ preferred Muggle transportation, despite it taking so much longer to get from Point A to Point B. He still kept his wand, long after the dangers of the Wizarding War had come to an end, but he barely used it. It was no secret that he preferred his technology and original way of life to wand-waving and potion-making.

“He Portkeyed home.”

Hermione’s eyes widened. “To get back on time or…?”

Roland shook his head. “I’m afraid in his current condition, he would not be allowed to fly.” He looked to the baggage claim crowd. “Is there a bag you need to find?”

Still confused, Hermione shook her head and rested her hand against her beaded handbag. “I’ve got everything I need here.”

Roland nodded and gestured in the vague direction of the airport’s exit.

“So…you know how – oh, maybe you don’t cuz of magic and stuff,” Mokuba began, “Well…you know how _normally_ someone probably gets a cold or the flu or whatever maybe once or twice a year?”

“…Yes?”

“That’s how it works for me, at least,” said Mokuba. “Well…Seto’s not like most people. _He_ probably comes down with a cold once every… _three_ years? Something weird like that.”

“Considering how little care he takes to his health at times, I’m both surprised...and not.”

Mokuba shrugged. “Yeah. Well…in any case, the long and short of it is that the entire New York office is plagued with some crummy hell version of the flu, they passed it to him, and he felt lousy enough to come home early.”

Hermione blinked. “Must have been some cold for him to do that.”

“His fever broke this morning,” said Roland. He stepped to the side and held an exit door open for them. “He’s been in bed since last night.”

“I set up a guest room for you,” said Mokuba. “I didn’t think you’d want to be in his space. Shoot, he’s _my_ brother, and even if I was feeling the absolute worst, _I_ wouldn’t want to be near him right now.”

“It’ll be fine,” she said. “It sounds like he needs a Pepperup Potion. I can see if I left any behind when we get back to the house.”

Mokuba pulled a face as they got into the car. “Would he drink it?”

Hermione sighed noisily and thought back to how she had to once _drag_ Seto to the Hospital Wing while back at Hogwarts just for something to help him sleep. “No…probably not.”

Mokuba rolled his eyes. “Of course he wouldn’t.”

* * *

“Here you are,” said Mokuba. The guest room was bright and airy. A small vase of flowers sat on the table next to the cozy reading chair by the window, and the curtains had been pulled back, allowing all of the sunlight in.

A stark contrast of Seto’s bedroom, where the dark drapes kept out almost _all_ light. As much as she disliked it when she would stay in his room when visiting, she knew he needed it that dark to get any proper rest.

And considering he usually got very little of it, she didn’t put up a fuss about it. There were, after all, a number of other places she could stay in the mansion that offered much more natural light. Like this room. 

“Is that really all you brought?” asked Mokuba, eyeing her bag. “It’s so small! You must have left a ton of stuff here from last time.”

Hermione set her beaded bag down on the bed and began unpacking. “It’s charmed to hold much more than you think. It’s easier than claiming baggage on flights.”

“Don’t they screen the bags at security?” said Mokuba curiously. “They don’t see a mountain of stuff in there?”

Hermione grinned slyly. “No. It’s another bit of spellwork.”

“Sneaky! Wish _I_ could do that.”

Hermione giggled. “You can always ask Seto to do that for you.”

Mokuba tapped his finger thoughtfully against his chin. “He barely does anything with magic anymore…but I suppose it never hurts to ask him…. Anyway, I’ll let you get settled in. Want lunch outside?”

“Sure. I want to freshen up after the flight so I’ll be down in a bit. Do you think afterwards, you can help me see if one of my books is here? I thought it was at home, but Mum and Dad swear they don’t have it, and it’s not at my flat. I didn’t think I left _Hogwarts: A History_ here, but…”

Mokuba nodded. “Sure. It could be anywhere around here.”

“Thanks. I haven’t seen it in months, and I’m worried I lost it during the war.”

Mokuba tapped a finger against his chin thoughtfully. "If you couldn't find it after all this time, why not replace it?"

Hermione's shoulders slumped. "I could...but it has sentimental value.  _Hogwarts: A History_ was the first book I bought when I found out I was a witch. I've marked some of my favorite passages and even made little notes around. Even the new edition, which has so much more in it just wouldn't feel right. If I can, I'd like to find my own first, and this is the last place I can look."

“Don’t worry. We’ll find it!” Mokuba smiled reassuringly and then left the room.

Hermione finished unloading the rest of her bag, which wasn’t all that much for two weeks. But she had left a number of things here from the last time she visited. A few clothing articles were in this room.

The rest were in Seto’s closet.

After a quick shower and change of clothes, she left the guest room and headed back towards the stairs, but stopped outside Seto’s door.

A rather terribly-doodled drawing of a doctor fighting a virus was taped onto it with large writing underneath.

**QUARANTINED ZONE  
DO NOT ENTER!! **

She cracked a smile, stepped forward and knocked lightly on the door, waited a few beats for a response that didn’t come, and then quietly opened the door and slipped inside.

As she expected, the room was dark, save for the sliver of light that made it past the narrow curtain gap.

And his phone, which lit up as a notification popped up onto the screen.

Seto was asleep, buried under the blankets, turned away from her. 

She hesitated a moment before she brushed his sweat-soaked bangs back and lightly pressed her hand to his forehead. It was warm, but not incredibly feverish. His breathing was even, though it sounded terribly congested.

The phone lit up again. Another message.

Hermione withdrew her hand as his body suddenly shuddered and he let out a loud raspy cough that nearly sounded like he was trying to expel one of his lungs. She cringed.

She ran a hand gently through his hair again before lightly pressing a kiss on his forehead. Perhaps she and Mokuba would search for the Pepperup Potion first _._

Hermione turned to slip back out of the room and grabbed his phone. If it kept turning itself on like that it was bound to wake him up, despite him not budging _at all_ when she touched his forehead. On any other day, he would have been awake before she even made it through the door. Seto was completely out of it, and she couldn't blame him.

Placing the phone in her pocket, she closed the door quietly behind her and continued downstairs.

* * *

“I’m starting to think that maybe it's not here,” said Hermione with a heavy sigh. She leaned against the wall of the mansion’s library as Mokuba put away the last stack of books.

“I’m sorry,” he frowned. “But at least you found that potion you were looking for. Now we just have to get Seto to take it. Somehow.”

Hermione snorted. “I’ll just mix it into his dinner.”

Mokuba pulled a face. “If he’s awake to eat it.”

Hermione shrugged as they wandered out of the library and back towards the living room. “He’s got to eat sometime.”

“Well,” said Mokuba, “At his absolute worst, Seto’s slept like a rock for over an entire day. Now, that was coming off a weekend convention in America, but still. By the time he wakes up, he may not need that stuff anymore.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” said Hermione, cringing a bit. “He sounds dreadful.”

Mokuba tilted his head at her. “Did you go into his room?”

Hermione nodded, and felt her face redden slightly. “Just to check on him.”

Mokuba jumped back and angled his index fingers in an “x” formation in front of him. “ _Quarantine_!”

“Oh stop!” Hermione laughed. “I’m not going to catch what he has!”

“Uh huh,” said Mokuba suspiciously, “Seto’s got the _plague_. We’re all gonna get it, and it’s gonna be like the Dark Ages all over again. The people of Domino are gonna come and burn the place down with all of us in it so we don’t spread it to anyone else.”

“I think you’re taking this a little too far.”

“Hey, the plague is no joke! It only wiped out a third of Europe.”

Hermione shook her head. “Seto has a cold. He’ll be fine within a few days.”

A quiet buzz sounded from somewhere in the hallway. Mokuba stopped, looked down and started patting the pocket of his sweatshirt. “Was that you or…”

He glanced back up again. Hermione’s face had turned pink and she pulled a phone from her pocket. “It was yours then.”

Hermione shook her head. “No, actually. Seto’s kept going off when I went to check on him, so I took it out of the room so it wouldn’t disturb him. I just forgot to put it someplace.”

Mokuba frowned at the number of notifications on the screen. “You’d think people wouldn’t bother him when he’s out of the office. But that’s a chain of follow-up emails, so maybe he missed a conference call or something.” He shrugged. “Oh well. You can put it on Seto’s desk. That’s usually where he leaves it.”

Hermione nodded. “Alright.”

Mokuba pointed to a closed door down the hall. “It’s that one there. I’m gonna run upstairs and grab my sneakers. Want to go into town? There’s a new chocolate and coffee bar that opened up near the business district. _It’s sooo good_! And maybe we can drop in on Yugi too.”

“Sounds great,” she smiled. “I’ll just set this down and meet you by the front door?”

“Awesome!”

Hermione slipped into the study. It felt odd being in here all alone. This was Seto’s space, and she felt like she was intruding, even if to only drop off his phone.  

The desktop was almost completely cleared, if not for the closed laptop sitting off to the side. She set the phone down next to it and looked around for the charger.

Hermione paused, a random thought coming to the forefront of her mind. Did she _need_ one? At Hogwarts, he had charmed all of his equipment to keep its charge, and the computer and phone he had there never went below 100%. But this was a newer model phone, not the same one he took to school. Without the strict magic keeping technology from working on school grounds, would he even have bothered any of the complex spellwork to keep his devices from dying? He kept mainly to his prior Muggle life since the end of the Wizarding War, where there was electricity and outlets a plenty.

Reaching over, she pressed the side button on his phone, waking it up. The battery indicator read a meager 24%.

So this one _did_ need a power source. Good to know. …But where did he keep it?

Hermione walked around to the back side of the desk, sat down in his chair, and surveyed the desk area from what would be his normal purview. No power cord in sight.

“Oh, where are you?” she said to the empty room, and opened the top drawer. Nothing in there but some papers and the remote for the large screen TV hanging on the wall. The next one over was mainly the stationary junk drawer, where among the assortment of extra writing utensils and paper clips were two mangled stress balls. But the top drawer on the right side had the thin white wire.

“There you are,” she said, smiling as she plugged in the small power box and connected the phone, watching the screen come to life as the battery bar began to fill.

But it was when she got up that something caught the corner of her eye. A tall, narrow bookcase stood perpendicular to his desk. While some of the shelves were filled with awards, a Blue Eyes statuette, and at least one hand-painted mug that _had_ to have been gifted by Mokuba at one point in time, there was one shelf dedicated to books. And right in the center stood _Hogwarts: A History_.

“Oh!” she cried, and eagerly pulled it from the shelf. “He must have been saving it for me.”

She looked it over and flipped through the pages, noting the sections she had dog-eared the corners from her many reads in the past. She wasn’t sure how long it had stayed here in his office, but Hermione was surprised he never pointed out that it was here. He _knew_ it was her favorite book.

Hugging it to her chest, she made to leave and froze on the spot.

On the same shelf was _another_ copy of _Hogwarts: A History_.

Hermione looked down at the book in her arms, and back up at the shelf. Seto didn’t have his own copy while at Hogwarts, or even during the Horcrux hunt in the following year. And if he had her book this entire time…why did he need his own?

She pulled it from the shelf curiously and looked it over. It was the exact edition as hers, but there was something off about it. She set the two books down next to each other.

They were the same size and weight. Her copy had a _slightly_ more used look to it. But even the extra copy had the corners of the pages marked in the same places.

There was no way that he researched and saved the _same_ parts of the books that she would have. This didn’t make any sense at all.

Frowning, Hermione picked up the second copy and opened it.

And then nearly dropped it.

It became clear to her, all at once, why Seto would have two copies, identical down to the last tucked corner, and why the second one was trying _so hard_ to look like her own.

Only one of them was real. 


	2. Hogwarts: A History II

Mokuba started back through the hallway. How long did it take to charge a cell phone? Sure, Seto hadn’t been in his home office for a while, but there was _always_ a spare cord hiding around. And the mansion was big, but it wasn’t _that_ big. With how many times Hermione had stayed over while either on break from the British Ministry, or working out of the Japanese one, there was no way she would have gotten lost. It was a straight shot from his office to the entranceway.

What he didn’t expect to find was Hermione, white as a sheet, trembling in his brother’s office chair while her eyes stayed glued on whatever it was sitting in her lap.

He knocked twice on the open door. She didn’t even register that he was there.

“Hey,” he said finally, walking into the room. “I was wondering where you were….”

Still no response.

Mokuba frowned and knocked hard on the desk.

Hermione jumped, startled, and had to slam the book in her hand shut so she wouldn’t lose her grip on it. “Oh!”

Mokuba grinned. “Man, it didn’t take long for you to get lost in that, huh?” His eyes wandered to the title. “Oh hey – you found it!”

The smile slowly left his face. Something wasn’t right. Hermione should be glad to find her missing book after all this time…so why did she look like she had just seen a ghost?

“Hey,” he said gently, “Are you alright?”

Hermione quickly shook her head and glanced down at the book in her lap again. She raised a hand and wiped at the corner of her eye.

Mokuba bit his lip. Was she about to cry? …Over a book?

“I didn’t realize it meant so much to you,” he said, “If you knew it was missing for so long, I would have gone looking for it ages ago.”

She didn’t respond to him. How did Hermione go from happy to almost catatonic in such a short period of time? Clearly, there was something he was missing.

His eyes scanned over the desk. The phone sat plugged in next to the laptop. So she did find the charger then. There was that.

Another book sat on the desk, and Mokuba tilted his head to read the title on the spine.

_Hogwarts: A History_.

Wait – wasn’t that the same book in her lap? Did Seto have his own copy? Shoot – if that was the case, why didn’t he tell her hers was here the entire time? Seto _had_ to know how important it was to her, so why wouldn’t he have told her where it was? This didn’t make any sense at all.

“This isn’t about finding your book, is it?”

She shook her head again.

Mokuba frowned. How was he supposed to help if she stayed silent this entire time? _What the heck could have happened?_

“…Is it because Seto’s sick? I mean, I’m pretty bummed about it, but it’s like you and Roland said, he’ll be better in a few days…” _Even if we have to spike his food with Pepperup to do it…_

Hermione shook her head again, and with a shaky hand, held the book out to him. “…I…” she started and then stopped.  Mokuba just stood there and waited for her to find her voice again. “…I’ve made a terrible mistake.”

_What?_ Mokuba scrunched up his face, confused. “Mistake about what? Did you leave something at home? Forget to feed Crookshanks before you left?”

Hermione looked up at him for the first time since he entered the office. “Open it.” Her voice was strained, almost scared.

Mokuba took it from her slowly and turned it over in his hand. It appeared to be the same edition as the one on the desk. So she and Seto each had a copy. Big deal.

Shrugging, he lifted the cover, and his eyes widened.

From the outside, it looked just like a book. That was about as far as it went. The center was hollowed out to fit a small velvet box. And he had a pretty good idea of what was hidden away in there.

_“Oh…_ ”

“D-did you know?” Hermione asked, her voice barely audible.

Mokuba shook his head, staring hard at the box. It wasn’t a lie. At this stage of their relationship, it was only a matter of when. But he didn’t know _how_ Seto was eventually planning to do it, or _when_ it would be happening. 

It was all very surreal. He had known, in a way, something was up, _waaay_ back when he first introduced her as a _friend_. Seto didn’t _have_ friends. Except maybe Yugi, but that at the time was more or less some sort of dueling rivalry respect thing going on. Sort of. Seto certainly didn’t think highly of Yugi’s friends all that much, not the way that he did. So for him to call someone his friend was a pretty big deal.

Not to mention she had turned tomato-faced when he had said that. Uh huh, nothing going on _at all_.

But since then? He had watched the walls Seto had put up around himself for years slowly come down. He felt _relaxed_ around her, which was something Mokuba couldn’t say about a whole lot of people when it came to Seto. They were good for each other, and it was scary how brilliant they both were. He’d lost track of quite a few _heated conversations_ about magical theory or whatever it was that they had 'intellectual discussions' over.

Ever since he had overheard the two of them talking about the future when he came home late from game night at the Muto house one time, he had tried very hard to read for signs of an imminent proposal. He tried bribing the driver when they went off on dates. One time he attempted to sneak along, but it didn’t quite work out as well as he had hoped. Darn growth spurt. If he was going to be too short to really rival Seto, but too tall to be able to sneak around like he used to, then what good was it!?

But he really hadn’t an idea of how close this moment was. Sure they had spoken of the future, but Seto was taking this relationship slowly. There were certain conversations he knew that the two of them had more than once. So he figured “the future” was one of those times, alongside her staying here when in Domino, or him looking at purchasing a home in London when he was abroad instead of living out of a hotel all the time.

In fact, Mokuba was sure that  he was more put out that Seto had this big secret sitting right under all their noses, and even _he_ didn’t even know about it.

“I…” Hermione started again, and it barely more than a whisper. “…I don’t know what to do.”

Mokuba set the fake _Hogwarts: A History_ onto the desk. “Well,” he began awkwardly, “You do love my brother, don’t you?”

Her face was still white, but she looked at him, scandalized that he would even ask such a thing. “Of course!”

Mokuba nodded. There had to be a way to make this better…but what could _he_ do? “You uh…do you want to marry him?”

“I…” she faltered and put her hands over her face, her cheeks and the tip of her ears reddening. “ _Yes_. But…I…I didn’t want it to be like _this_. This isn’t right!”

She sighed and picked up the fake book, setting it next to her own. “I don’t know how long this was in the works, Mokuba, but I’ve up and ruined everything! Look how much detail he put into making this look like my own. He even dog-eared the pages and everything! I’m sure he planned something - probably to leave this for me to find, or surprise me or whatever, but it won’t be the same now.”

“Uh…” Mokuba scratched at the back of his head. “…You can always…put it back?”

Hermione’s shoulders slumped, eyes glistening. “ _Mokuba…_ I can’t just _unsee_ this!”

“I know, I know,” Mokuba said quickly, and muttered a few silent swears. Of all the times for Seto to be knocked out upstairs!

Hermione slouched back against the back of the office chair. “What am I to do? It won’t be a surprise anymore…I can’t give him the genuine reaction that he would be expecting.”

“Well…” Mokuba looked down at the desk. “You didn’t _open_ the ring box, did you?”

Hermione shook her head and wiped at her eyes again.

“Then it’s still a surprise!”

Hermione gave him a wry smile. “No…not really.”

Mokuba huffed and put a hand on his hip. “Well…what if....” His eyes suddenly lit up. “What if you put it back and I tell Seto that he has to come up with a new plan. He doesn’t have to know that you found it. And you didn’t _see_ it, technically, so he can still surprise you!”

“I mean…sure…but it’s not quite the same.”

Mokuba leaned against the desk. Another idea popped into his head. “It’s safe to say that whatever Seto planned to do is out the window now. Maybe he should have done a better job of hiding this where you wouldn’t find it. That’s _his_ fault, not yours. So why don’t we turn the tables on him!”

Hermione looked wary. “I’m afraid I don’t quite follow.”

“Surprise _him_ instead!”

Hermione sniffed and raised an eyebrow.

Mokuba gestured to the box. “Okay. Picture this. Unless he’s gotten up in the last two hours or so, he probably doesn’t even know you’re here. It’s clear that he’s going to pop the question _sometime_ soon, so that means _he_ wants to get married. And you just said to me that you want to also. So why not just put the ring on and he’ll know how you feel when he sees it on your finger!”

Hermione looked horrified. “I just can’t _take_ it, Mokuba!”

“Why not? It’s _going_ to be yours anyway.”

“It’s…” she waved a hand, trying to find her words. “It’s just _wrong_. Marriage proposals don’t work like that!”

Mokuba shrugged. “Well…whatever the original plan was? We both know it’s been shot to pieces. Like you said – you can’t take back what you saw. So why not make the best of it? And honestly, I want to see the look on Seto’s face when he sees you wearing it.”

“Mokuba, I—I can’t.”

“ _Why not_?”

“Because…” she sighed. There was really no reason why she _couldn’t_ just go along with Mokuba’s plan and surprise Seto instead. Certainly, he wouldn’t see _that_ coming.

“…There’s something…something _magical_ about a proposal. It’s such a private and emotional moment for the both of us…. I just have always sort of imagined it a certain way, that’s all…”

After a moment, Mokuba smiled knowingly, though his shoulders slumped a bit. “You want to be asked. I get it.” That was fine – there was still one more trick up his sleeve.

Hermione closed her eyes and nodded. She leaned forward, propping her elbows along her knees and covered her face with her hands. How did trying to do something simply _mundane_ as plug in a cell phone lead to such an absolute mess?

How could she face Seto later, knowing that he had this ready to go? Would he suspect that she knew about it? She was never all _that_ good about hiding a lie. How would _he_ react, knowing that however many hours of preparation and hard work were lost in this one afternoon?

There was a tug at the hem of her skirt as she sniffled. “Hey, don’t cry. It’ll be alright.”

Hermione lifted her head up and dabbed at her eyelids again before opening them.

And then froze.

The fake _Hogwarts: A History_ was open on the desk. The center was empty.

Mokuba knelt down on one knee and held the closed ring box out towards her.

“Hermione…”

He was grinning from ear to ear, and despite her mood, she couldn’t help but smile too.

“…will you do me the honor of marrying my brother?”

* * *

Seto wasn’t quite sure what he was looking forward to more when his eyes slowly worked their way open. Was it the mucus in his chest that he kept trying to cough out, only to feel like he was tearing his throat apart instead? Or the congestion in his head and nose that kept him from breathing properly? Perhaps it was the way his legs felt like absolute _lead_ when he tried to move them, or the weight against his side keeping him from getting up.

Whatever it was, he hated it.

Sick days were made for a reason. Whoever decided to infect half the New York office should be lucky that they still have a job.

He blinked a few times, as if it would help clear the muck from his head and allow him to think clearly.

It didn’t.

It did, however, make differentiating the shapes of furniture in the dark slightly easier.

Whoopee.

With a loud sniffle, Seto dragged his right arm out from the warm confines of his blankets and patted the top of his nightstand for his phone. He frowned as his search came up empty (though it did send some lightweight rectangular thing skidding across the surface) and kept probing around until his fingers hit the switch at the base of his bedside lamp, washing the room in warm light for the first time since he had arrived home.

Seto blinked. His nightstand had a copy of _Hogwarts: A History,_ and a box of tissues that was almost ready to teeter over the edge. So _that_ ’s what his hand hit.

His phone, however, was gone.

Seto stared at the tabletop for a good minute before his brain started processing what his eyes were seeing.

A box of tissues…and _Hogwarts: A History_ …

He didn’t remember putting _either_ of those things there. He remembered dumping his phone on the table and changing for bed.

Seto coughed and furrowed his brow. He could tell by looking at the book’s edging that it was the duplicate he had made and squirreled away with Hermione’s copy in his office. The only people who knew about the ring were himself and Roland, and he couldn’t see Roland taking it from his bookshelf.

…So what the hell was it doing in his room? Did Roland think Hermione would find it in his office and bring it upstairs? But why _here_? It was no secret that she usually stayed in his bedroom when she was visiting. Shoot – if Roland needed to hide the ring in a more secure location, he could have taken it down to the security room. She never meandered that far in the basement.

Unless…

He glanced back to the other side of the bed, and what little color he had drained from his face.

Hermione had pushed a pillow up against his side and was resting against it, still dressed for the day and on top of the blankets. Her hands were both against the edge of the pillow, and he let out a relieved sigh that quickly transitioned into a round of raging coughs. The ring wasn’t on any of her fingers.

This still didn’t bode well. At the moment, this only meant that she wasn’t wearing it. _Someone_ took it out of his office and placed it with them, and it _couldn’t_ be a coincidence that this happened while she was here. Which meant she _had_ to know it was hiding in that book.

Hermione stirred at the sound of him hacking up mucus. Propping herself up on her elbow, she twisted around to see him staring at her with what she could only describe as a mix of horror and confusion.

“Oh,” she said quietly, tossing the pillow she was using against the headboard and shifting to lean against it, “You’re awake!”

Seto continued to stare at her. She wasn’t in pajamas, so that meant it was sometime during the day. …But…was her flight not coming in for another day?

His brow furrowed. Wait…that wasn’t right. _His_ flight was the late one.

…What _day_ was it?!

“How are you feeling?”

Seto broke out of his muddled thoughts and looked to her as she raised a hand and pressed it against his forehead. Her eyes were red, her face flushed. She seemed upset, but at what? At him being sick? Was she feeling under the weather too?

“ _Peachy_ ,” he croaked out. _Ugh._ He sounded like a damn frog.

“You feel cooler – I think your fever is fully gone now.” She shifted a bit to face him better. He was still giving her that odd look, like he wasn’t sure exactly what he was seeing. “…What’s wrong?”

Seto opened and closed his mouth. There were a couple of things he needed cleared up, but his brain couldn’t put anything into words. Hermione didn’t _look_ like she was in on his likely-ruined surprise, but that didn’t mean anything. Should he just bring up the elephant in the room…or get some smaller matters cleared up first?

Finally, he braced his hands against the mattress and pulled himself up against the pillows behind him. “…What are you doing here?”

He was grateful that he didn’t sound so hoarse that time.

Hermione pressed her lips together in a thin smile. “You invited me, remember? These are my two weeks off from the Ministry; we planned this a few weeks ago.”

Seto shook his head. He knew _that_. “No…I meant… _here_.”

“Oh,” she said softly, in a smile that didn’t quite seem to brighten her mood all that much. “Mokuba wanted to take me into town to see this new café that opened….”

Hermione looked down. Her right thumb had been nervously stroking the ring finger on her left hand this entire time, and she quickly shifted her hands apart. “But…t-the flight was tiring and I decided to lie down for a bit instead.”

Seto sniffled loudly. “…In _here_?”

Hermione bit her lip, nodding. “Does that bother you? I’ve stayed in here before….”

“No,” Seto shook his head, a little too quickly, and he quickly shut his eyes against the sudden disorientation. “…How long have you been in Japan?”

“A few hours. I made it in just before noon.”

“What time is it now?”

Hermione glanced to the narrow watch on her wrist. “Almost time for dinner. Mokuba is making something up.”

He heard her words, but they didn’t sink in properly. “I would have thought that Mokuba would have gotten you your own room.” He let out a round of fierce coughs. “I’m not exactly pleasant company right now.”

“He did, but…it just…felt _right_ to be in here,” said Hermione. She glanced back down at her hands and then looked away towards the windows. “I know that doesn’t make too much sense, does it?”

While she was staring in the other direction, Seto reached for the copy of _Hogwarts: A History_. “Is this your way of answering the question?”

“Hm?” She turned back, paling slightly as he placed it on his lap above the blankets.

Seto ran his hand along the front cover. “You found it, didn’t you?”

She hung her head, exhaling loudly as she nodded. “I-I didn’t _mean_ to,” she said softly. “I’m sorry.”

“I take it you opened it.”

Hermione cringed and Seto noticed for the first time that she was trembling. “I…I _wouldn’t have_ …if I knew what it was….”

She slumped over and clutched at the sleeve of his pajamas. “I ruined _everything._ ”

_What?_ Seto reached across with his free arm and placed his hand over top hers. “What are you talking about?”

She leaned her head against his shoulder. “I…”

All that came out after that was a loud sniffle.

Seto waited patiently for her to start again, and he found it a personal victory that he didn’t end up hacking up his intestines in the meantime.

“Look at this,” she said, her voice shaky, “all of this (sniffle) work. You created _h-hundreds_ of pages, just to tuck the corners in. How much (sniffle) sleep did you lose over making an exact replica…only for it to mean _nothing_ in the end?”

Seto cleared his throat, forcing what would have been a cough back down his throat. “I wouldn’t say it became nothing,” he said, “The fact that you’re so distraught over the reveal being ruined and nothing else is all the answer I need. So in the end, the copy itself _is_ nothing.”

“W-what?”

Seto straightened up a bit more against the headboard. “If you weren’t _ready_ for this, if the answer was no, would you _really_ have slept in here, _on me_ , and risked contracting whatever it is I have?”

Hermione wiped at her eyes. “Maybe.”

Seto looked down at her skeptically and tipped her chin up so she was staring at him. “ _Really_?”

“That’s why cold medicine exists. _Pepperup Potion_ exists, Seto.”

“Hn.” Seto passed her the book, and noticed that she made _no_ move to take it from him. “Go ahead.”

Hermione straightened up. “I-I couldn’t.”

Seto gave her another doubtful look. “You _already_ opened it once.”

“I know,” she said, “But it was only the cover. And it was an _accident._ And I wouldn’t let Mokuba open it either.”

“…Mokuba knows?”

Hermione nodded. “He found me with it, and tried so hard to help me feel better over it all.” She settled back against her pillow and smiled at the memory. “ _He_ proposed to me, you know.”

Seto raised an eyebrow, the edge of his lip curling upwards. “…Are you two-timing me for my fifteen-year old brother?”

This time, Hermione’s laugh brightened her face and she side-eyed him, amused, despite how distraught she had been only moments before. “He proposed _on your behalf_. It was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.”

 “Oh,” Seto said simply, “Then I suppose I don’t have to go through the bother of doing it myself.”

Hermione blinked. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t see why I need to – you’re going to say yes. That _is_ what you said to Mokuba, wasn’t it?”

Hermione's face flushed, nodding. “ _Mokuba_ isn’t the one I’d be marrying.”

Seto laughed, and what a mistake that was, as he quickly turned his head to cough away from her. “We’re sort of a package deal.”

Hermione shifted closer. “Even so, _he_ isn’t the one I’m choosing to spend the rest of my life with.”

Seto sniffled loudly and reached for a tissue. “For better or worse?”

She chuckled. “We survived the Wizarding War, and a Shadow Game. I think the worst is behind us. Unless you’re an idiot and think medicine is beneath you.”

Seto grinned slyly at her. “Oh I don’t know, I remember you making some terrible decisions concerning idiots in the past.”

Despite the smirk on her face, she gave him a rather hard look. “Are you _going_ to take the Pepperup Potion?”

“…Is this a condition of you accepting what’s in the box?”

Hermione crossed her arms. “And if it is?”

Seto sighed. “I guess I have no choice then, do I?”

Hermione watched as he opened the fake copy of _Hogwarts: A History_ and plucked out the small velvet box nestled inside. “I can’t believe I have to bribe you with cold medicine.”

“My stubbornness knows no bounds.”

“It really doesn’t,” she said. “It’s scary how hard-headed you are at times.”

Seto paused a moment. “Well there’s really only one thing that can be done about it,” he said. “Would you like to spend the rest of your life pointing out just how much of a hard-headed idiot I am?”

Hermione’s lips were pressed into a thin line as she tried to keep herself from laughing.

Seto opened the velvet box, facing it away from Hermione, and turned to her. She was looking up at him.

He sighed. This _really_ wasn’t how he expected his reunion with her to go. The box had been finished for a little while, sure, but he hadn’t prepared what he would say to her…not yet at least. As it stood, he hadn’t planned on giving it to her until at least the tail end of her visit in Domino. …And that was almost two weeks from now.

“I wish I had something a bit more meaningful to say,” he shrugged, “But I was not expecting this to happen.”

“I know,” Hermione wrapped her arm around his and settled against his shoulder again. “I’m sorry.”

“What’s done is done,” said Seto, sniffling and taking hold of her left hand. “…What _matters_ …is that you’re ready to take that next step.” He turned the box around so she could see the diamond ring nestled inside. “Will you –?”

He didn’t even get the rest of the words out. He wasn’t even sure she had taken a good look at the ring. The question was barely out of his mouth when she rocked forward on the bed, threw her arms around him, essentially knocking him back down into his pillows, and kissed him.

She quickly withdrew as she felt his body shudder under her and she moved back in time for him to let out a round of rasp-filled coughs.

“You know…” he said, propping himself back up on his elbows as she settled back onto her knees next to him. “…If you were that eager to say yes, that could have saved a bunch of time in the long run.”

Hermione blushed. “I _did_ want you to ask me though. It…just wasn’t the same coming from Mokuba.”

Seto snorted as he removed the ring from the box and held his other hand out openly for hers. “You barely let me get three words out.”

“It’s been a very odd day,” she admitted, holding her hand out. “I’m a bit of an emotional mess.”

Seto slid the ring onto her finger and settled back. “I couldn’t tell.”

Hermione held her hand up. There was a trio of diamonds – the middle one a large square – set along the center of the band, which was carved in an infinity pattern with two rows of smaller diamonds inside. The main trio weren’t too small to blend in with the band, and not too large to be considered gaudy. They were _just right_ and sparkled beautifully under the light.

“Do you like it?”

“I _love_ it,” she breathed, and kissed him again before twisting around to slide off the bed.

Seto held his arm out to reach for her, but she was too far away already and he let it drop against the blankets with a soft thump. “Where are you going?”

Hermione looked over her shoulder, a sly grin on her face. “I have to let Mokuba know you’re awake. He’s got soup prepared for you. …And you _did_ promise to take Pepperup Potion.”

Seto huffed dramatically, and glared up at the ceiling. “I had hoped you forgot.”

“No such luck,” she laughed.

Seto grumbled, tossed back the blankets and swung his legs around to the edge of the bed. “Worth a shot.”

Hermione stopped near the door. “Oh, is the grumpy dragon finally going to leave his cave?”

Seto’s legs were stiff as he got up and stretched. “The dragon doesn’t eat in the cave, no matter how ill he is.” His knee ached, a phantom pain from the war that sprouted up every now and then as he stalked over to his closet and disappeared inside.

Hermione paused for a minute and then instead of leaving to find Mokuba, she followed after him. “When should we start telling everyone?”

Seto shrugged, “We don’t _have_ to tell anyone. I can make an appointment at a courthouse and we can have papers signed by the end of the week.”

Hermione wrinkled her nose. “Oh, _no_. We have to at least have a proper wedding.”

Seto chuckled. “And when are the two of us going to have time to plan such a thing?”

Hermione crossed her arms. “Maybe you should take some time off from work every now and then and plan a few extra trips to London. …Think the boss would be alright with it?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Seto in mock concern, “there’s a lot to do coming up. But I’m sure I can wrangle something together.”

“I hope so,” she said, looking up at him, eyes twinkling. “When do you think that time off would get approved?”

Seto laughed as he tipped her chin up towards him. She wrapped her hands around the back of his neck, pulling him closer as they kissed again.

“Already done.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is interested...[this is the engagement ring](https://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/three-stone/18k-white-gold-three-stone-diamond-infinity-engagement-ring-item-41016). (On the spinning image, change the cut from 'Round' to 'Princess'.)


	3. Hogwarts: A History III

Mokuba grabbed the long wooden spoon and stirred the pot again. Hopefully Seto would be up for some food, and the soup would be good for him. He just had to cross his fingers he didn’t catch his brother’s cold. He definitely didn’t want to come down with the flu for the rest of his weekend.

He twisted around in mid-stir as Hermione walked inside and fixed her hair back into a loose bun. “What happened to you this afternoon?”

She blushed and smoothed out her sweater. “Oh, I went to take a nap.”

Mokuba nodded, only mildly suspicious at her answer. “I think it was good for you too. You look better than earlier.”

Hermione smiled. “It was, thanks.” She wandered closer and looked into the pot. “That smells good.”

“I’ve been slaving over it for…uh….” He craned his neck to check the time on the microwave. “Twenty minutes! So it better be good!”

“Are we just having soup?”

“Nah.” He pointed to the oven. “There’s turkey stuff in there.”

“Turkey…stuff?”

“Uh huh…the cook prepared it before leaving for the day, so I don’t know what exactly it is, but she said once the timer goes off, it’ll be done.”

He eyed her carefully, with a funny look on his face. “…This nap you were having…. was it in Seto’s room? I went looking for you before and couldn’t find you anywhere.”

“Yes,” she said, and laughed at his exaggerated gasp as Mokuba hopped back a step, waving the spoon menacingly as if it were a lethal weapon. “But none of us are going to get sick. We found the Pepperup Potion. Seto will be fine by morning, and if you’re so worried, we can each take a small bit of it as a preventative.”

Mokuba huffed. “If you say so….” He went back to stirring. “Is Seto at least alive?”

“Oh yes, he’s getting up now.”

“Good,” said Mokuba dryly, “I’ve forgotten what he looks like.”

Hermione shook her head and looked around the kitchen. It was clear that Mokuba didn’t spend a lot of time preparing food. The kitchen was an absolute disaster zone, and it seemed that he used almost all of the flatware in the one drawer in his attempt to prepare dinner.  “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Uh…yeah, there are rolls in the – ” Mokuba blinked as he gave his wide sweep of the room in search of the mentioned bread and paused at the person standing in the entrance to the kitchen, looking rather impressed that his brother even managed to get out of bed. “ _We_ _ll, well_! Look who’s alive!”

Seto rolled his eyes and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his Kaiba Corp hoodie as he leaned against the wall. “I’m surprised you’re cooking.”

“ _Someone_ has to,” said Mokuba. “The cook dropped off the groceries and got me started, but it’s not like _you_ were doing anything.”

“I _was_ asleep.”

“Yeah,” said Mokuba as he ladled soup into three bowls. “Thanks for leaving me to fend for myself, Bro. Who got you sick anyway?”

Seto shrugged. “Could be half the people in New York’s upper management. Patient Zero was likely over it by the time I got there.”

“Lucky them,” Mokuba muttered and he pointed to a chair at the table. “Soup. _Now_.”

Seto’s lip was curled upward as he sighed and took the indicated seat. “Yes, _Mother_.”

To say that dinner started off awkward would be an understatement. Mokuba’s eyes kept flitting between Seto and Hermione, but he couldn’t gauge anything between them. He tried to peek at Hermione’s hand, but he was on the wrong side of her and couldn’t see.

She was in his room, and they must have talked or something before she arrived in the kitchen for dinner. …Did they bring up the _Hogwarts: A History_ book? Was Seto completely oblivious to what had gone on in his study this afternoon?

“So…any plans for the rest of your vacation?”

Hermione shook her head. “I…don’t _think_ so…? No specific plans at least. I’d like to visit Yugi and Téa, and the others, if I can. It’s been a while since I’ve seen them.”

“I’m sure they’ll be glad to see you too,” said Mokuba, “Though, you missed Téa by about a few weeks. She just went back to New York. We probably won’t see her again here until her performing arts classes break again.”

“Oh! Will she have a show coming up?” She looked at the Kaiba brothers eagerly. “I was rather bummed out that I wasn’t able to see the last one.”

“We missed it too,” said Mokuba. “But I know she sent Yugi her show schedule the other day. I’ll check in with him later and maybe we can find time to go to New York!” He tore at his roll and dunked into his soup. “Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll get out of school for it, too!”

Seto raised an eyebrow. “Weekend shows, Mokuba. You won’t be in school.”

Mokuba stuck his tongue out at him.

They continued to eat in silence for another minute before Mokuba put his fork down onto his plate and sighed. “Okay. Can we address the elephant in the room now?”

Hermione eyes flitted from Mokuba to Seto and then lingered there.

Seto didn’t look at either of them, and simply continued eating. “I don’t know what the elephant is,” he said, after another swallow.

Mokuba rolled his eyes. _“Seto_.”

“Mokuba.” He turned to stare at his brother, and while his eyes looked tired, there was an amused spark to them. “I don’t see what you’re wondering about. _You_ were the one who proposed to my fiancé.”

“Well, _yeah_ , but you should have seen –”

Mokuba froze. _Wait. Rewind._ Did Seto say what he think he said? “HOLD UP.” His eyes darted between Seto and Hermione. “For real? It’s…like _real_ this time?”

Hermione nodded, eyes bright, her mouth pressed into a thin line.

Mokuba jumped up from his seat, threw his arms straight up in the air, and shouted out a loud “YES!”.

Seto sniffled loudly and watched his brother prance around the kitchen flailing his arms. “He’s taking this rather well.”

Mokuba stopped doing his little dance next to the island counter. “I mean…it was only a matter of time,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “I had a feeling for a while now.”

Seto rolled his eyes. “I know. Your stealth attempts needed some work.”

Mokuba stuck his tongue out at him again before he turned to Hermione and gave her a pleading puppy face. “Don’t hold out on me anymore, I want to see it!”

When Hermione held out her left hand, he rested it in his palm and admired the diamond trio in the center of the gold band. “Ooh,” he said, as he tilted her hand back and forth. “ _Wow_. You outdid yourself, Seto!” He looked up at Hermione. “What do you think?”

“I _love_ it,” she said, “Though, I admit I’m still a bit in shock.”

Mokuba sat back down and propped his elbows up onto the kitchen table. “So…does this mean you’re gonna be moving here to live with us? Are we gonna be moving to England?”

“I….” Hermione turned, questioning, to Seto.

“There’s still time to hash that out,” said Seto. “For now, nothing is changing.”

Mokuba was still grinning. “Well, if it’s official now, can I put it online? Tell Yugi and the others?”

“It’s barely been an hour,” said Seto flatly, “Curb your enthusiasm a little.”

Mokuba’s jaw dropped. “ _Seto_ , this is a huge deal! You guys just made a big life decision! It affects _me_ too!”

“I never said it didn’t,” said Seto, “But the world doesn’t need to know.”

“At least not yet,” Hermione said. “I don’t mind if you announce it on your blog or your video channel, but not right away. My family and friends back home should hear it from me, not from a news article on the Internet.”

Mokuba mulled it over for several seconds and nodded, conceding. “That’s fair. But you’ll let me still make a thing, right?”

She smiled. “Sure. Just…don’t tag me in it, not directly. I don’t want Mum and Dad, or my cousins or friends getting bombarded with attention.”

“ _Or_ have someone putting their noses where they don’t belong,” said Seto, “The wizarding world is supposed to remain a _secret_. Let’s _not_ break international magic laws.”

* * *

_Three weeks later_

“You know,” said Yugi, “I don’t know what I expected when you said that Kaiba had proposed to Hermione, but somehow…I just _knew_ that it wouldn’t be something _normal_ like getting down on one knee.”  He, Atem, Joey, and Mokuba were gathered around the Muto living room, working their way through a new tabletop game that Mr. Muto brought back with him from his trip to the US. Grandpa had long gone to bed, leaving his grandson and friends to their sleepover game night. 

What Mokuba didn't count on, was the rather unexpected photo of his brother and Hermione to hit Seto's social media account earlier that day, without any caption or tags whatsoever. Normally, Seto only reblogged posts from the official Kaiba Corp account, sometimes links to gaming-tech articles, and the occasional dueling announcement. It was very rare that anything pertaining to his private life went public. 

So when Seto's photo went live, his followers went  _nuts._ And when  _he_ reblogged the photo with his own congratulations,  _his_ followers responded as well. 

And now his phone alerts  _would not end._

“He really made a carbon copy of that book huh?” said Joey, moving his pawn several spaces around the game board. "I'm surprised it had nuthin' to do with dragons...."

Mokuba ignored the second half to Joey's comment. “Yeah, I can’t believe he managed to get so much detail into it, because it wasn’t as if he bought an extra one and carved it out.”

“How do you know?” said Joey.

Mokuba rolled his eyes. “We’re talking about Hermione here. If he destroyed a book, she’d have murdered him.”

Yugi laughed. “Yeah. Though, it’s almost like bookends, if you think about it.” He turned to Atem. “Remember on the train ride to Hogwarts? Aside from the ones we got in Diagon Alley, _Hogwarts: A History_ was the first book she gave him. Seems only fitting he gifted it back to her. …Sort of.”

Atem nodded. “I’m guessing Hermione appreciated the gesture."

“ _You have no idea_ ,” said Mokuba, as his phone lit up beside him again, showing a cascade of new messages.  

“Your phone has been buzzing the _entire_ night,” said Yugi.

“I know,” said Mokuba, giving the newest popup only a brief glance. “I’m regretting the decision to get notifications right about now.”

Joey grabbed some popcorn from the bowl next to him. “Why don’t ya just turn ‘em off?”

Mokuba frowned. “Cuz I like reading the comments, and it’s easier to keep up with them as they come in versus all at once.”

Atem tilted his head. “And…do you find that works?”

Mokuba shrugged. “Sometimes. But…uh…” he glanced at his phone. Five new comments had posted. “Well…not this time.”

“It’s a really nice photo,” said Yugi, “I saw it on my dashboard this morning. I’m surprised you got a picture of Kaiba smiling in the first place.”

Mokuba grabbed the board game die and rolled them around in his palm. “Oh, I didn’t take it,” he said. “The last night before she went back home, he took her out to someplace fancy, and I’m pretty sure that was the original proposal plan before he ended up with the office plague.”

“Fancy like midnight snacks at the late-night oden stand down the street from Kaiba Corp?” Joey snickered.

Mokuba rolled his eyes. “Seto? Eat _that_? Get real, Joey.” He unlocked his phone, tapped away a few times, and then turned it around to face Joey and Atem. “They went to that super-upscale restaurant along the boardwalk that opened up last year. And…” He chuckled at the memory. “When he told me about how the night went afterwards, it sounded like they hit up a fry bar too.”

Joey wrinkled his nose and made a funny face. “Wait, so you’re tellin’ me that your brother – stuck up Rich Boy – won’t go to the mainstream noodle stall, but will hit up a fried potato stand?”

“Eh,” said Mokuba. “What can I say? They like fries.”

Joey shook his head. “So _weird_ , man…”

“Well, I for one, am happy for them,” said Atem, looking down at the picture of Seto and Hermione, arms around each other as they posed on the boardwalk with the harbor behind them. The setting sun cast a wild array of colors into the sky, creating a sort of effect he’d expect to see in one of the magazines Grandpa Muto kept around.

“Well, _yeah_ ,” said Joey, and he blinked, and _then_ rolled his eyes at the pair of raised eyebrows he received. “Oh come on, Yug’…and, well, _other Yug_ ’, just because I don’t care for him doesn’t mean I won’t congratulate the guy. Engagement’s a big deal. I’m just more surprised that of all the people we knew, he was the first one to try and tie the knot, ya know?”

He elbowed Yugi playfully. “Expected that honor to go to you, bud!”

“ _What_!?”

Joey snickered. “Oh don’t be hiding it, we all saw how you and Téa were gettin' along even _before_ she left for New York.”

Yugi turned beet red and buried his face in his game cards, and Atem laughed quietly into the back of his hand.

Atem took the game die and rolled for his turn. “If we’re talking about things we’re surprised over, it is at you, Mokuba. How did you keep this whole thing a secret for _three weeks_?”

Yugi was eternally grateful for the subject change and remained hyper-focused on his hand of cards.

Mokuba tilted his head up towards the ceiling and let out a strangled “ugh” noise. “It was _so hard_ , you guys. I wanted to tell _so_ badly, but Hermione wanted to tell her parents first, and I wasn’t allowed to put anything on social media until Seto gave me the okay.”

“Forget online, I’m talking about straight up sayin’ something,” said Joey.

“Rules were rules,” said Mokuba, shrugging. “But I wasn’t expecting Seto to post something on his own account.”

“Yeah,” said Yugi, and he cracked a smile as Mokuba’s phone lit up with yet another cluster of notifications. “Well, it seems the rest of the world wasn’t either.”

Mokuba swiped to the left to read the newest comment. “Oh man, even the official Kaiba Corp channel chimed in. If Seto’s post, or _my_ repost didn’t do it, it’s set in stone now.”

“They just posted _now_?” Yugi’s brow raised. “A bit late on a Sunday. Surely there’s no one in the building at this hour.”

Mokuba shook his head. “Nah. One of the company interns remotely manages the account.”

The phone was soon set aside, and the game continued. Every so often Yugi would glance up at his friends around the table. Joey had a weird look on his face, like something was begging to be said, but he was holding it back.

Or maybe he was just concentrating _really_ hard. He _was_ currently losing this round.

Yugi put the thought on pause and went back to focusing on his next turn. If he rolled the die right, and _then_ didn’t draw a dud card, he would be in a good position to reach the end space on the board on his _next_ turn. And only Atem was near him on the game board. There was no way of knowing what was in his card hand, but he wasn’t going to count out a trump card.

Like in Duel Monsters, Atem usually had an ace move hidden away. He wouldn’t be surprised at all.

But still another round of moves later, and Joey still had that weird look on his face.

“Okay, Joey,” said Yugi. “I’ll bite. What’s up?”

“I’m just…thinkin’,” said Joey.

Mokuba reached across to pat his arm. “I think you’re thinkin’ a little too hard there, buddy. Your face is gonna freeze like that.”

“Hah,” said Joey. “But really. Kaiba is getting himself hitched. And you know what that means?”

Yugi shook his head. “No…what?”

“Well…someone’s gonna throw him a bachelor party, right?” He turned to Mokuba, eyes wide, nodding slightly.

“Uh…I suppose,” Mokuba wrinkled his nose and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at him. “Why…are you volunteering or something?”

“Look, I just wanna be sure that he gets one. _And_ that it is the _most_ over-the-top, craziest stunt we have ever pulled. Game?”

Mokuba paused. He was absolutely certain Seto did not want a bachelor party. Shoot – he barely wanted a wedding. Hermione had mentioned how she shot down the notion of having a quick ceremony at the courthouse.

Though, to be fair, he wasn’t sure how serious Seto was when he made that statement, considering he was ill at the time.

But as far as a party went, the only people he could think who would attend were those his brother didn’t even _like_. Yugi, maybe, but everyone else? _Tolerated_ , at best. Even Hermione’s friends – Harry and Ron, he was sure Seto considered them somewhere on the “Yugi” end of the spectrum, but still.

And Seto must have known this sort of thing would come up eventually, even if Joey wasn’t the first of Yugi’s circle of friends to do so.

_“I’m not a fool,”_ Seto had said, within days of getting over his cold. _“The Nerd Herd is going to find out sooner or later. No doubt because you’ll tell them. But if any_ one _of them so much breathes the idea of a bachelor party….”_

_“It_ is _a tradition though for weddings…”_ Mokuba had said. _“They’re gonna want to do_ something _for you_.”

_“Yeah, a tradition among friends. They’re_ not _my friends.”_

But…, Mokuba said to himself, you only get married once….

He grinned and rubbed his hands together. “ _Deal_.”


End file.
